Rumblegut

John Bladek, Children's Writer

John Bladek

My writing

August 2016:Lost in Ghostville (Capstone)

Twelve-year-old Trey Newton looks for ghosts so he can get on his favorite TV show. When he actually finds one it leads to something far bigger. Someone is kidnapping all his town's spooks, including his beloved grandmother. It's a race against time for Trey to rescue her before she becomes an eternal exhibit in a ghost amusement park.

Upcoming Kindle Release:Winterbay Abbeyis an old-fashioned ghost tale reminiscent of Susan Hill's classic, The Woman in Black. Set on the wild coast of Maine, it's a tale of spectral revenge and heartbreaking loss that will keep you reading into the dark hours of the night. Co-authored with Davonna Juroe, author of Scarlette, and Seeing Red.Middle Grade Humor:

About Me

I have devoted most of my life to pondering the eternal question, “What stinks?” However, constantly holding my nose prevented me from growing up. Despite the nose pinching I managed to earn a PhD in History so I could put Dr. in front of my name and pretend to be an adult. But I discovered that writing for kids about wicked smells and evil fast food was much more fun.
I am represented by Jamie Weiss Chilton of andreabrownlit, otherwise known as the best children's lit agency in the biz.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Just this past few days, my co-author on our gothic ghost story, Winterbay Abbey, Davonna Juroe and I found our book moving up the sales lists. I can now say that Winterbay Abbey is officially an International Bestseller! We made the top 100 paid charts on Amazon in the U.S. (#40), Canada (#4), Australia (#2), Barnes and Noble (#8), and Ibooks, and I've got pics to prove it.
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Jodi Picoult? Great company!

Best seller!

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Move over, Neil Gaiman!

This is all very exciting and new. We hit the charts and a lot of people got a chance to see Winterbay Abbey. The more people who read it, the better. That's why we wrote it. I sincerely hope all those people who took a chance on our book enjoy the read and never regret taking that chance.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Lost in Ghostville fans, if you happen to be in Spokane, WA this October 29, stop by Auntie's Bookstore @4:00 pm and see me teach how to find ghosts.I'll read a bit from Ghostville, answer some questions, and of course we'll search the store for any spirits who might be haunting the old building. Should be great fun! See you there!Lost in Ghostville--Children's Event

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Ghosts and ghouls, my co-author Davonna Juroe ("Scarlette", "Seeing Red"), and I are giving away a signed first-edition copy of our ghost-story novel, “Winterbay Abbey”. The plot follows a Seattle architect who travels to a small town in Maine where he becomes entangled in the terrifying past of a menacing ghost haunting an abandoned abbey. Inspired by classic ghost tales, “Winterbay Abbey” is a contemporary Gothic thriller, reminiscent of Susan Hill’s “The Woman in Black”. This is the perfect book to put you in the Halloween mood and for ghost-story lovers. To enter to win, click on this link to go to my Facebook page. Open to both U.S. and non-U.S. residents, giveaway starts at 10:00 AM PDT on my Facebook Page on Sept. 6th, 2016, and entries are accepted through Sept. 8th, 2016 (12:00 PM PDT). Winner chosen at random and will be announced Sept. 8th, 2016. Good luck!

Thursday, July 21, 2016

It's always cool to see a FedEx truck pull into your driveway, but especially so when you're expecting something big. My author copies of Lost In Ghostville arrived today. That's a big day for any author--the day you get to see your published work on actual paper, not from your own printer, and bound, with a beautiful cover. Here's my experience opening my box of books.

Take a close look at the cover. The illustration is by Charlie Bowater. I think she made a fantastic cover, and most people who've seen it agree. You can see more of Charlie's work here: http://charlie-bowater.deviantart.com/. We've never met, but she draws a mean mermaid.﻿

Friday, July 15, 2016

I'm hitting the spirit world hard in August, with two new releases: Lost in Ghostville, a middle-grade humorous ghost story about a boy, his homemade ghost detector, and a ghost-napper.

Winterbay Abbey is an adult ghost story I wrote with co-author, Davonna Juroe, and is set in an old, abandoned abbey in Maine, with dark secrets and a future as terrible as its past.

Why all the ghosts, you ask? Well, we all have those times when we're trying to deal with loss, and both these stories helped me confront that, although in different ways. Ghostville does it by being funny, and heartfelt, as well as with robot dinosaurs and dino-poop. Winterbay is a bit darker and intended to scare. Combined, they gave me multiple ways to show the impact of ghosts, both their dark, and light sides.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

I've known Jessica Young for about three years now. We belong to a critique group and every month she sends me a new piece of writing and returns the favor by struggling to read parts of my manuscripts. We've actually never met in person, but we've talked voluminously, including a two-hour conversation about quantum mechanics as it relates to story structure (yes, it was as thrilling as it sounds!). She's fun and smart and funny, and so are her books. Her newest, Finley Flowers (Original Recipe) has just been released, and it's fantastic. I've had the honor of reading Finley since Jessica first came up with the idea and I'm so happy to see it make its way into the world. It was a fantastic story idea from the start (and has the most awesomely named nemesis in all of kid lit, wish I'd thought of it) and has only gotten better through successive drafts. I'm eager to see if any of the joke ideas I tossed Jessica's way made it into print (none are as good as Finley's nemesis' name though).
Better yet, Original Recipe, adorably crafty Finley's attempt to win a school recipe contest with delicious/disasterous results, is just the first of a series from Capstone publishing. A whole slew of Finley Flowers is on the way, and I can't wait to read all of them, even though I've already read the manuscripts.
Jessica's book is great for early readers and middle grade. If you've got younger kids, check out her picture books too. They're just as wonderful.